RAJSHAHI, June 6, 2022 (BSS) - Many of the grassroots people have become accustomed to environment-friendly best practices to protect the environment from further degradation in the region, including its vast Barind tract.
 
More than 3,000 villagers are seen engaged in good aquaculture practices, while 30 others transplanted 200 palm trees so far to protect them from thunderbolt and above 120 herbal plants in homestead to meet up their family needs.

Role of the palm tree is very important to reduce the rate of lightning that claims the lives of both people and domestic animals every year.

The promotional development activities are seen being implemented with intervention of the Sustainable Enterprise Project (SEP) being implemented in three upazilas of Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj districts.

These were revealed in a post-rally discussion hosted by Ashrai, a non-government development organization, at its learning centre at Baya under Paba upazila in the district in observance of the World Environment Day 2022 on Sunday.
 
"Only One Earth: Living Sustainably in Harmony with Nature" was the main theme of the day this year.

The villagers consisting of teachers, students, businessmen, officers and employees formed eight environment clubs and motivated community people towards promoting environment-friendly activities.

Around 300 of the members were imparted training on good aquaculture practice for environmental certification, while 150 others were given training on feeding technique and safe input uses and 75 on post harvest management for product certification.

Ashrai has been implementing the three-year project financially supported by the Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) and the World Bank.

Ashrai Executive Director Prof Ahsan Ali, SEP Project Manager Anwar Hossain, Environment Officer Arafat Islam, Documentation Officer Syed Tanvir Islam, Technical Officer Saad Ahmad and Finance and Procurement Officer Kaisar Ahmed spoke on the occasion.
 
Senior Deputy General Manager Abdur Razzaq and Deputy Director Jashim Uddin also spoke.

The meeting was told that 70 club members cultivate seasonal vegetables on fellow lands of around 60 pond-embankments through adopting recycling waste management, while 160 others adopt climate resilience technology and twenty others use renewable energy.
 
Syed Tanvir Islam told BSS that four of the club members are growing Malabar spinach (pui shak) on the pond embankment and using those as meal to their rearing fishes in the respective pond maintaining the food centric natural ecosystem in the fish farming ponds.
 
In the process, fishes are getting organic food contributing to reduce the water pollution caused by using chemical fertilizer.

Tanvir Islam said they are promoting climate-resilient technologies in fish farming through launching modern technologies to produce safe food and to reduce production cost.
 
As a whole, the SEP is intended to promote drought-resilient fish farming technology, besides increasing fish production and expanding environment-friendly fish farming practices.